The Reason Why
by GypsyMagick
Summary: Everyone hates me now, without understanding why. If you want to understand, then listen to me...The reason Sasuke is who he is and why he's acting the way he is. SPOILERS AHEAD!...not too many but still there!


_**Disclaimer; I do not own any of the Naruto characters mentioned.**_

_A one-shot I thought up as to why Sasuke is being the bastard he's being...I'm trying to stop myself hating him and so, knowing that a lot of others who read the manga might hate him right now, I tried to figure out my own reasoning as to why he's being such a pig-headed idiot. For anyone who is not reading the manga, or isn't up to the latest, I suggest you don't read; SPOILERS AHEAD!! I've warned you._

_To those who read Planet Naruto; I have not given up on the story; I'm just having a little problem in making it go the way I want it to go. Hopefully this problem will disappear soon. Thanks for your patience._

The Reason Why

It's amazing how experiences shape you, isn't it? How, from one small choice, a whole world that you thought you knew could explode, destroying everything you believed in.

I always believed that older brothers were there to protect you. They were there to encourage you, help you, tease you, hug you, save you, love you, and protect you. That was their role. They were meant to guide you through life, protecting you when you couldn't protect yourself, picking you up when you failed.

Itachi was my older brother, and I adored him. He was the best, he's show me techniques when my father was too busy with the clan. He'd comfort me when mother couldn't be there. He'd save me from my older cousins. He'd pick me up when I was unhappy, and in the way that makes older brothers special, would make me smile. He held me when I was scared. He was there, my protector.

Never did I think that the one who protected me would be the one to destroy me. And yet, that is what he did.

Not once did it occur to me that Itachi could turn from a loving brother to a cold-blooded murderer, but he did.

I found my whole clan slashed to ribbons, blood spattered on the wall, and there, in my own home, I found my older brother standing over my parents' bodies. I waited for my brother to say he had just found them and was going to look for the bastard who did this, and that everything was going to be ok. He didn't. It was then I realised that it was him who had done this. I ran from him.

Hearing what he had done over and over destroyed me. I began to hate him for killing my clan, for leaving me by myself, for destroying my clan, for leaving me on my own, for destroying all I had believed in, for leaving me all **alone**. He betrayed me and I hated him for it. But a part of me still loved him. I could never get rid of the image of my smiling older brother showing me how to throw a kunai properly or helping me with my homework without letting father know. And it killed me. It hurt to remember that I once had an older brother who had cared for me, only to leave me, abandon me, without telling my why.

Everyone thought that I wanted to become stronger to defeat Itachi and get revenge for my clan's death. I let them believe that, trying to make myself believe that that was the reason, and it wasn't so my brother would acknowledge me. I wanted to become stronger so |I could get my brother to tell me why. Why he had killed everyone I loved. Why he had just abandoned me. Why he wasn't there cheering me on as I became the top student, or when I graduated. I wanted to know why he wasn't there to see me accomplish my missions after I became a genin, or when I passed the chunin exams to the finals. I wanted to know why he chose to leave me behind, in a life I didn't ask for; why he chose to forget about me. I believed he hated me, and I wanted to know why.

Then a couple of months ago I found out. I had finally been able to seek Itachi out, and destroy him as he destroyed me. Fighting him was hard, when a part of me just wanted to run and hug him, holding him close to me as he held me when I was younger. _He was my __brother._ And moments before he died, I saw his honest love for me shining in his eyes as he flicked my forehead like he used to do when I was a kid one last time. And my love for him overflowed.

And then I found out the answers to my questions. I was told the real truth behind my clan's murder. The murderer wasn't Itachi. It was Konoha. Konoha, the village I had once wanted to protect, the village that had supposedly mourned for my clan and sympathised with me, had actually planned it all. They had forced Itachi to kill the Uchiha clan. It was then I realised the true love Itachi had for me. He defied them; he let me live. He loved me too much to kill me. The love I felt for Itachi flowed through every cell in my body, as did the rage about what _they_ did to him. I had to protect, defend, get revenge for Itachi. Konoha had to pay.

As a child I had to avenge my family. Now, as a teenager, I have to avenge my brother. I am The Avenger.


End file.
